My earliest and fondest memories of chicken noodle soup are from cold winter days in North America, where we would usually go out and have this comforting soup to warm us from the inside while the weather outside was cold and shivering. Often we would get the soup from a can and I would try and improvise with herbs, spices and seasoning. But soon I realized the limitations of canned soup in how far one can take it in taste and health and I started to make my own version of this soup from scratch. That was a time consuming effort, making a huge batch, some of which I would freeze and keep for another day when we needed it. Back in Singapore, the weather never really needed a hot bowl of soup - except for a really rainy day when you manage to soak yourself and are looking for comfort.

In the last 5 months, I have returned to chicken noodle soup. But this version is very very different. It is an Asian style soup from Pam Anderson's book "The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great". The dominant flavours in this soup are ginger, garlic, green scallions and soya sauce. It is also a much quicker version as we don't need to sauté the vegetables. Only boneless skinless chicken breasts are used which are easy to cook. You can use pre cooked chicken also and that will make it much faster. I am not able to find low sodium chicken broth as easily in Mumbai so I have started to use the liquid used to poach chicken breasts as my base for the soup and it still tastes great and removes the use for an added ingredient. You can use chicken broth cubes also. I like to keep it as natural as is possible.

There are some other changes I have made to the original recipe by Pam Anderson. I use a combination of light and dark soy sauce to the get the flavour I need. I also use whole wheat noodles instead of the instant ramen noodles in her recipe. They need to cook a couple of minutes extra but they are a much healthier alternative. Since I don't use storebought chicken broth and have also changed the proportion of the soy sauce, I do end up seasoning the soup with salt and pepper. Pepper, I feel adds a much needed spicy edge to the soup in the background. Bean sprouts are a must to enjoy this soup to the fullest. They add an amazing contrast of texture and freshness to every bite, not to mention that they are nutritious too.

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

3 cups water (use more if needed)

4 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

2 tablespoons light soya sauce

1 tablespoon dark soya sauce

1 disk whole wheat noodles

2 cups fresh bean sprouts

4 scallions, sliced thin

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

salt and pepper to taste

1 lime quartered (optional)

Method:

1. Gently boil the chicken breasts in water over medium low heat till they are cooked through. Remove them from the heat and set aside for 5 minutes. Once cool enough to handle, shred the chicken into small pieces.

2. Use the water that remains from poaching the chicken to prepare the base of the soup. Add fresh ginger, garlic and soya sauce to the water and let it boil for 2-3 minutes.

3. Add the noodles to it and cook till the noodles are short of al dente. Then add the chicken and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes over very low heat.

4. Add the scallions, coriander, salt and pepper and let sit for 2-3 minutes off heat to allow all the flavours to come together.

5. Ladle the soup into serving bowls, sprinkle bean sprouts and serve with a wedge of lime if needed.